Hey all, I been busting my butt on this for the last day & a half & it came out pretty good so I figured I'd show off!
Here is a before, a bunch of durings & some after shots. I found some really cool landscape design software which I am currently running the trial version, It will not allow me to save the altered design photo as a jpeg so I can't post that shot, which is a shame because it helped me sell the job & looks alot like the after shots. Wish I could show you all that.
I've done alot of landscaping over the last couple years but this was our first retaining wall project. It was tough work, lots of digging & I am more sore than I have been in a long time.... Plus I grossly under-estimated the amount of fill dirt we'd be left with when the job was over. We ended up spending about 4 hours (x 2 men) shoveling about 3-4 cu yds into & then back out of my truck today... uuhhhggggg.

It's came out nice though, & customer is very happy.:)

Steve

05-23-2009, 05:52 PM

Those are some great pictures. Could you make a screen capture of the image you created and then save that?

majoe7

05-23-2009, 08:35 PM

Musician/lawnman Hey all, I been busting my butt on this for the last day & a half

Chuck,
That job came out real well, you did an excellent job. I can see why the client is very happy. After looking at this post earlier, you gave me some motivation to go out and mow some lawns. We had some sunshine from 3pm till 8ish. I knocked out 4 lawns. Yeah!
Anyway keep those pictures and put them in your album to show future clients and generate some extra business for you and your crew.

If you can or want, can you give us a total cost for this project? If you keep things private then I understand. Maybe a competitor is looking to steal your thunder here in the forum. LOL :rolleyes:
Great job.

John

Little's

05-23-2009, 09:23 PM

Chuck, great job. Looks like it turned out real nice, Im sure the customers were very happy. I really like how the red brick stands out and gives the whole thing a little pop!

Steve W

05-23-2009, 09:47 PM

YES! It turned out real nice. Sure gave that patio a whloe new look.
Good Job Chuck.

musician/lawnman

05-23-2009, 10:45 PM

Cool, Glad you guys like it too.
I have never know how to do a screen shot before, after your post Steve I searched & learned so thank you.
Here is the cropped screen shot. I explained to the customer that the program didn't give me the option to make the bricks or mulch red & that planned to lay the bricks down differently than the picture shows, but they got the idea & loved it.

This was my 1st retaining wall project as I stated above, I bid it the best I could imagine though I knew It would be a little low. I even admitted to the client it would be the 1st (though they have been lawn maintenence clients of mine for about 2 years now) and assured them the final product would be perfect as can be. Total product cost was about $850 and we went about 26.5 hours in labor for the project. about 2 hours collecting materials (I paid a supplier to deliver most of it but that was included in the product cost above) + 9.25 hours x2 (18.5 HRS) on the 1st build day (almost complete) + about 3 hours x 2 (6 HRS) on site today shoveling the dirt on to the truck (that's where the under bid bit me in the a s s). I did have to shovel the dirt off the truck too, but I spread that into my yard so since I benefited from it I won't charge that against the job cost. I can tell you my hourly rate charge will be higher on the next one of these. That was one of the most physically demanding jobs I have done yet. I mean..... go dig for 3-4 hours then spend the rest of the day carrying three 24 pound blocks at a time or kneeling down setting them in place..... wheeew, my butt was kicked. My wife said I rolled over in bed last night & was snoring 10 seconds later. I believe it. I was exhausted, that was way harder than mowing lawns.

turfmaster

05-24-2009, 08:51 AM

Nice job!!
I too have been doing more landscaping this year and it is definitely harder work than mowing especially doing hardscapes. There is good money in it for sure but you have to bust a*s*s for it. :)

Steve

05-24-2009, 10:12 AM

Chuck,

As you reflect back on the job now, would you do anything differently if you were called to do another job like this? Also you mentioned you would charge more next time. I bet there are others reading this wondering what they should charge for such a job. Knowing what you know now, what would you advise them to charge?

musician/lawnman

05-24-2009, 07:10 PM

Chuck,

As you reflect back on the job now, would you do anything differently if you were called to do another job like this? Also you mentioned you would charge more next time. I bet there are others reading this wondering what they should charge for such a job. Knowing what you know now, what would you advise them to charge?

MORE! MORE! MORE!:D
Seriously Steve,
Cut me a little slack here my man. I already gave em' my product cost & the number of hours used.... If they can't figure it out from there well then, good luck to ya. I am not putting out my final charge for this job (either actual or what I would charge if I had to do it again), or my hourly rate. No way! There are too many locals here on this forum, & I have learned the hard way, giving advice is one thing, but divuldging too much information is just suicide. I might as well just shoot myself in the foot.